In The Beginning....

Saturday, February 02, 2013

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

When we look at the beginning of mankind and his life in the Garden of Eden before the Fall of man we see how God intended for His man to relate to Him. We can understand how God intended for life to be for mankind.

In the beginning God created man in His likeness and image and gave him authority over all that was in the Garden; all the wild-life and plant life. He gave him rule and dominion and the ability to subdue all that God had placed under him.

Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God gave His man supreme authority in his own sphere of influence. He empowered him to rule over the earth; his sphere of influence. Man was to be in communion with his God and then pass on to his world that which he received from his God. Communion with God was the key to releasing his authority in the world. That all changed when sin entered the picture!

When sin entered into Adam's and Eve's lives the first thing we see happening is their fear of God; they were afraid to come into His presence to commune with Him. Sin hinders a person's ability to come boldly before God's throne to receive the help that he needs. It causes a person to want to run away from God and hide from Him instead of running to Him to fellowship and commune with Him. Sin hinders a person's ability to hear God's voice and feel His presence.

God wanted His man to fellowship with Him; to experience all that He had created him to be and do. Sin broke the channel of communication and caused his man to lose his confidence in exercising his authority over the world that God had given him. Sin caused man to be afraid of God; where he had once run to God to get his significance and acceptance, he now hid and cowered down from Him because of the effects of what he had done. Man's ability to hear the voice of God was now blurred and condemnation from the enemy now played a bigger role in his awareness of his God and what God thought of him. He now knew the evil of his world, just as the serpent had said, but it wasn't as great an idea as had been presented to him when he had been tempted to eat of that which God had said to stay away from.

Isn't that what sin does to us today also? Doesn't it hinder our ability to feel love and acceptance from our heavenly Father? When you sin don't you feel like running and hiding to escape the watchful eye of your Father in heaven? Does condemnation haunt you and give you the feeling of never being any good to anyone because you can't get control over a sinful habit?

Well, I have good news for you! God knew that His man would sin and that his communion with Him would be broken because of it. He planned ahead of time for what He knew would be needed to free man from the power of the enemy and the sin that so easily besets us. He made a way where there seemed to be no way! That way was made through the sacrifice of Jesus for the sin of mankind! God is in the restoration business! He restores what the enemy steals from us. When Jesus died for your sin and mine He made it possible for us to come back to the state that we were in before the Fall of man, in the Garden of Eden, where we lived in communion with our heavenly Father. Jesus restored our authority in our world. He gave back to us everything that sin took from us!

Romans 5:17-21 NIV For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Jesus restored back to us everything that we lost when Adam and Eve sinned. Condemnation comes through sin; the door was opened for the enemy to enter into our lives through sin. God told Cain when he was thinking about killing his brother that sin was lying at the door waiting to have him; but that he should master it.

Genesis 4:6, 7 NIV Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will yo not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

God told Cain to keep the door to sin shut. If he had listened to God he would have been able to stay in right relationship with Him. He would have continued to be able to live in communion with his heavenly Father. But Cain chose his own way over God's. And he opened the door to the enemy's work in his life.

The only ground that Satan can take from a believer is the ground that we relinquish to him through sin. Sin opens the door for the devil to wreak havoc in the life of a believer. It diminishes our authority over our sphere of influence; it dims the voice of God in our hearts and it gives the enemy a foothold in our lives. Sin destroys our relationship with God and opens our lives to enemy attack. The way to stop it is to close the door to sin!

Romans 6:12-14 NKJV Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

When we submit ourselves to God and resist the temptation of the enemy to sin, we are taking an active part in closing the door on the enemy's ability to ruin our relationship with our God.

What are you doing to close the door to sin in your life? Are you living above the temptations of this world and the lure of the enemy to be independent of your heavenly Father? Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hearts through asking God to forgive you and He will restore you to a right relationship with Him. The channel for communication will be cleared and you will once again be able to fellowship with Him and hear His voice. Don't allow the enemy to block your receptors!

Father, I come before You this morning to thank You for the way that You made for me to be in right relationship with You; through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord. Father, I thank You that I can come boldly before Your throne of grace to find help in my time of need because Jesus made the way for me. Thank You for your forgiveness for my sin. Father, I lift those up to You who may be struggling with sin in their lives. I pray that You will show them that if they will confess it to You, agreeing that it is wrong, and ask You to forgive them that You will do as You have promised to restore their relationship with You. Father, give them the courage to run to You and not from You. Father, draw them by Your Spirit to once again be set free from the effects of sin and the evil one. Thank You, Father. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

As always, AVANELL, thank you so much for your great message. I love Beautiful way to start today! Just getting back from church to go to yet another...we all need to stay steeped in the Lord. Our Pastor said, "today is Super Sunday" because we have Jesus in us!!!!!! We have to stay in His Word and live it to keep sin at bay and stay prayed up! and I agree with him totally!

God created us for fellowship! If sin makes us distance ourselves from Him, we do need to draw near again with clean hands and a clean heart. He is never far from an impassioned plea. Thank you, Avanell for a wonderful blog!

Whoo Hoo you got it sis .. now if others can get it we will have more labors ! 16 ¶ Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. If I may add we Christ is in us .. and we are in Him so we are hidden .. when they look at us they should see Christ .. and we are to be like him .. That is Good news .. yipee whoo hoo .. awesome Blog I always so look forward to seeing yours .. love you sis